Primary nav

really tall bookshelf

Here’s another cool thing in London. The National Art Library has a temporary giant bookcase construction filling void created by the building’s spiral staircase.

from the architects:

Situated by the V&As National Art Library, this freestanding wooden tower re-evaluates the concept of the archive. Its walls are made up of hundreds of shelves, holding thousands of second-hand books. Accessed via a spiral staircase, each floor includes a secluded reading chamber. Positioned to face inwards, the book spines form an exterior faade of monotonous white, whereas the interior view consists of a rich collage of colours and typographic textures.

For one, I didn’t even know the V&A HAD an art library (The National Art Library, actually). I wrote a review of the V&A last year and the fact I didn’t know about the National Art Library actually supports the main argument I made in the review.

But back to the bookcase, or “Ark” as it’s called. The bones on this structure are great. You actually can walk and climb inside this thing. There’s a couple reading benches. Supposedly they let three people in at a time.